Makeup, Then

When I was a kid in the 1960s, the women who surrounded me did not wear makeup every day, but only on special occasions when they got "dolled up" to go out. My mother's entire makeup collection consisted of one tube of red lipstick, a compact of pressed powder for her face and a small pot of rouge for her cheeks. My grandmother had a tube of pink lipstick which she kept in the refrigerator and used maybe twice a year. My teachers at school were similarly restrained and many wore no makeup at all. The most made-up person I knew was my Auntie Chick and that's only because she also used mascara and eye-shadow. But even she did not wear makeup on a daily basis. Wearing full makeup every day was the sure-fire sign of a trollop, everyone agreed. Respectable women were modest and sparing in their use of makeup. In fact, deeply religious Christian women (like the ones who lived down the street from us) did not ever wear makeup on any occasion. They told us girls that lipstick was a tool of the Devil and that our lips would be permanently stained an ugly brown if we used it.